Babies are always a great light, I think. I love their eyes.
I’m wishing everyone a very Incarnational Christmas this year. I haven’t entirely worked out what I mean by that, but I’m sure it involves a lot of mince pies. Do you have those in Canada?
Awesome. I was in World Market (it’s like Pier 1). They had hundreds of boxed Christmas cards. Not a single religious-themed style. There was one with Santa on an analyst’s couch saying, “I give and I give …”
Just in Thailand and there is the fascination with Christmas in that Buddhist land. But it is all about Santa, reindeer, Christmas lights and picture taking. For the most part, they have no idea for whom the celebration is all about. A friend told me that they are looking to celebrate the new year, not Dec 25. Very sad.
Even here in Catholic Philippines, Christmas music is out in the malls by September and people love to look at the lights and pretty sights. Christmas carolers out most nights now but they often do not know about whom they are singing–the object is to collect a small gift from the one for whom they are singing
I, for one, am so glad I am not still in the mindset of feeling sad because others don’t see the real meaning of Christmas. If people didn’t grow up with the nativity scene at Christmas, they just want to enjoy the prettiness of it, the warmth, the special feeling, the lights, the peace and happiness.
I remember how shocked I was to come across an uncle who drank some nice alcohol at Christmas. I didn’t grow up around alcohol, so I learned slowly that many people drink at Christmas to enhance the holiday.
I no longer begrudge these people their fun with Santa and all the rest. More power to them.
I’m not baking a birthday cake for Jesus and worrying (judging?) those who only attend church cause it’s Christmas and it makes relatives happy, or something.
What a load off when I gave up all that burden! I no longer have to say “tsk, tsk, they should remember that Jesus is the reason for the season.” In other words, they are doing it wrong, they should be more like me, they should feel guilty for having a good time.
You might enjoy the book “A Winter Walk” by Tolbert McCarroll. The back of the dust jacket states “Few storytellers can capture the sense of the divine as Brother Toby can. In this precious gift book we are invited to stroll along with this outstanding monk through the wintry season of darkness, candlelight, and the rich symbols and celebrations of all faiths. Each reflection enhances our appreciation of its topic including the Advent Wreath, Bodhi Day, Chanukah, Ramadan, Santa Lucia, and Epiphany.”
I’m enjoying it as much this year as I did last, and I’m thinking of gifting it to friends and family next year. (Hopefully, none of them are reading this or I’ve just let the cat out of the bag… ) Even my atheist son has enjoyed hearing the stories in the book. It just makes you feel warm and cozy and hopeful and like passing on the light. Anyway, I hope that you enjoy the holiday season however you choose to celebrate…
(You make a great point: Holidays are far more glorious without condemnation and guilt.)
I’m developing an incarnational view of Christmas, where you recognise the presence of God in the world and try to be that presence, but also enage thoroughly with the world rather than trying to transcend it. Part of this involves eating lots of mince pies and drinking a good quantity of mulled wine and otther forms of celebration. (Note for Americans – the latter two items are traditional English Christmas foods. Mince pies are sweet, fruit filled mini tarts or pies and mulled wine is warm sweetly spiced red wine.)
Ah, no, they aren’t mincemeat pies. They are minced fruit pies. Back in Elizabethan times they were made with meat, but then people started doing sweet versions and those became more popular and now a ‘mince pie’ is always a sweet, fruit-filled thing often served with cream or brandy butter. The minced up fruit is something you can buy in jars and its currents and stuff with a few sweet spices added.. Some of the mince pies have a touch of brandy in the fruit too. The pastry normally has a light sugar coating.
Dave- You’re too late. A quick search on Google reveals that baby Jesus nightlights have been in existence for some time now. Though, I haven’t been able to find any that are JUST baby Jesus (plenty of grown-up Jesus nightlights, though), there are several varieties of the nativity scene, or just Joseph and Jesus, or just Mary and Jesus, including a musical one. Yes, kitsch is alive and well.
And yet you can’t beat a flashing Madonna. (Not that one, the Virginal kind). My landlady told me that as a child she used to sit inside her wardrobe with her flashing Madonna and pray she’d get into Narnia.
Have you seen all those figurines of Jesus playing various sports? He never wears the proper gear, just a long white robe and sandals. And they’re all so damned active; you don’t get ones of him reading a book or drinking a latte.
This salty little guy here could get into some real trouble with those free arms.
And for legitimacy, You would think Mary (or maybe a midwife) would go to the trouble of a proper swaddling. You know, you have his Father’s reputation to think about, after all…
Tiggy- so, you mean that just being “like” a virgin doesn’t count? And as for booking ahead, I suspect they ran out of minutes on their pre-paid and couldn’t call.
I’ve since seen these gaudy Virgin Mary’s with lights that flash on and off like darleks, but at the time I wasn’t quite sure what my landlady meant by a ‘flashing Madonna’ (Don’t know if it’s the same over there, but here ‘flashing’ means exposing oneself; like streaking but without the running.)
Now if Mary and Joseph had had to spend Christmas Eve night at an airport I’d have more sympathy. I’ve stayed in worse hotel rooms than they had. For instance the tiny hut with a corrugated tin roof and no lighting and rats larger than guinea-pigs running around outside. I mean larger than large guinea-pigs. Okay, the size of small cats.
search “cavalcade of bad nativities” for some amusing and awful portrayals of Jesus’ birth –
Tiggy – I know what you mean about mince vs. mincemeat – but my grandma (Midwest United States) always called what you mean by mince pies “mincemeat” and you can buy “mincemeat filling” that is minced fruit / raisins etc… I never understood how chopped fruit and nuts could be mince MEAT. Our traditions really do get wierd as they get passed down!
At any rate, I appreciate the cartoon – we always think we know better than God how things should be done. A baby indeed.
David Hayward is a pastor artistically stripping to the essential.
Thank you for always bringing me back to the basics and essentials. How oft I need to be reminded I am complete in Him!
Yep… that is the great paradox isn’t it? Keeps me going….. thanks!
pure minimalism at its best.
Weeeeeeeeee, Look Dad, I lit my fart.
Did he just pull on a light switch?
Babies are always a great light, I think. I love their eyes.
I’m wishing everyone a very Incarnational Christmas this year. I haven’t entirely worked out what I mean by that, but I’m sure it involves a lot of mince pies. Do you have those in Canada?
Awesome. I was in World Market (it’s like Pier 1). They had hundreds of boxed Christmas cards. Not a single religious-themed style. There was one with Santa on an analyst’s couch saying, “I give and I give …”
Wish I could get this on cards. I’d buy them.
I love Christmas. Memorized Luke 2 as a kid, love the story. I think now, though, that it’s probably a myth. Stilll like it though.
Just in Thailand and there is the fascination with Christmas in that Buddhist land. But it is all about Santa, reindeer, Christmas lights and picture taking. For the most part, they have no idea for whom the celebration is all about. A friend told me that they are looking to celebrate the new year, not Dec 25. Very sad.
Even here in Catholic Philippines, Christmas music is out in the malls by September and people love to look at the lights and pretty sights. Christmas carolers out most nights now but they often do not know about whom they are singing–the object is to collect a small gift from the one for whom they are singing
I, for one, am so glad I am not still in the mindset of feeling sad because others don’t see the real meaning of Christmas. If people didn’t grow up with the nativity scene at Christmas, they just want to enjoy the prettiness of it, the warmth, the special feeling, the lights, the peace and happiness.
I remember how shocked I was to come across an uncle who drank some nice alcohol at Christmas. I didn’t grow up around alcohol, so I learned slowly that many people drink at Christmas to enhance the holiday.
I no longer begrudge these people their fun with Santa and all the rest. More power to them.
I’m not baking a birthday cake for Jesus and worrying (judging?) those who only attend church cause it’s Christmas and it makes relatives happy, or something.
What a load off when I gave up all that burden! I no longer have to say “tsk, tsk, they should remember that Jesus is the reason for the season.” In other words, they are doing it wrong, they should be more like me, they should feel guilty for having a good time.
Oh, great! Now someone’s going to market a “Baby Jesus Night Light” to “light up the darkness” of our lives!
@Lynn:
You might enjoy the book “A Winter Walk” by Tolbert McCarroll. The back of the dust jacket states “Few storytellers can capture the sense of the divine as Brother Toby can. In this precious gift book we are invited to stroll along with this outstanding monk through the wintry season of darkness, candlelight, and the rich symbols and celebrations of all faiths. Each reflection enhances our appreciation of its topic including the Advent Wreath, Bodhi Day, Chanukah, Ramadan, Santa Lucia, and Epiphany.”
I’m enjoying it as much this year as I did last, and I’m thinking of gifting it to friends and family next year. (Hopefully, none of them are reading this or I’ve just let the cat out of the bag… ) Even my atheist son has enjoyed hearing the stories in the book. It just makes you feel warm and cozy and hopeful and like passing on the light. Anyway, I hope that you enjoy the holiday season however you choose to celebrate…
(You make a great point: Holidays are far more glorious without condemnation and guilt.)
I’m developing an incarnational view of Christmas, where you recognise the presence of God in the world and try to be that presence, but also enage thoroughly with the world rather than trying to transcend it. Part of this involves eating lots of mince pies and drinking a good quantity of mulled wine and otther forms of celebration. (Note for Americans – the latter two items are traditional English Christmas foods. Mince pies are sweet, fruit filled mini tarts or pies and mulled wine is warm sweetly spiced red wine.)
ttm,
What a kind response. Thank you for that. And I will check into that book-it sounds lovely.
Tiggy,
You keep mentioning mincemeat pies…gonna have to try one this year!
Ah, no, they aren’t mincemeat pies. They are minced fruit pies. Back in Elizabethan times they were made with meat, but then people started doing sweet versions and those became more popular and now a ‘mince pie’ is always a sweet, fruit-filled thing often served with cream or brandy butter. The minced up fruit is something you can buy in jars and its currents and stuff with a few sweet spices added.. Some of the mince pies have a touch of brandy in the fruit too. The pastry normally has a light sugar coating.
Dave- You’re too late. A quick search on Google reveals that baby Jesus nightlights have been in existence for some time now.
Though, I haven’t been able to find any that are JUST baby Jesus (plenty of grown-up Jesus nightlights, though), there are several varieties of the nativity scene, or just Joseph and Jesus, or just Mary and Jesus, including a musical one. Yes, kitsch is alive and well. 
And yet you can’t beat a flashing Madonna. (Not that one, the Virginal kind). My landlady told me that as a child she used to sit inside her wardrobe with her flashing Madonna and pray she’d get into Narnia.
Have you seen all those figurines of Jesus playing various sports? He never wears the proper gear, just a long white robe and sandals. And they’re all so damned active; you don’t get ones of him reading a book or drinking a latte.
Tiggy,
Thanks for the pie history. I had been confused on that. Never heard of brandy butter.
Just to poke at the authenticity,
Shouldn’t Little Baby Jesus be swaddled?
This salty little guy here could get into some real trouble with those free arms.
And for legitimacy, You would think Mary (or maybe a midwife) would go to the trouble of a proper swaddling. You know, you have his Father’s reputation to think about, after all…
I don’t know what all that ‘No room at the Inn’ fuss was about. What did they expect at Christmas? They should have booked ahead.
Tiggy- so, you mean that just being “like” a virgin doesn’t count? And as for booking ahead, I suspect they ran out of minutes on their pre-paid and couldn’t call.
I’ve since seen these gaudy Virgin Mary’s with lights that flash on and off like darleks, but at the time I wasn’t quite sure what my landlady meant by a ‘flashing Madonna’ (Don’t know if it’s the same over there, but here ‘flashing’ means exposing oneself; like streaking but without the running.)
Now if Mary and Joseph had had to spend Christmas Eve night at an airport I’d have more sympathy. I’ve stayed in worse hotel rooms than they had. For instance the tiny hut with a corrugated tin roof and no lighting and rats larger than guinea-pigs running around outside. I mean larger than large guinea-pigs. Okay, the size of small cats.
search “cavalcade of bad nativities” for some amusing and awful portrayals of Jesus’ birth –
Tiggy – I know what you mean about mince vs. mincemeat – but my grandma (Midwest United States) always called what you mean by mince pies “mincemeat” and you can buy “mincemeat filling” that is minced fruit / raisins etc… I never understood how chopped fruit and nuts could be mince MEAT. Our traditions really do get wierd as they get passed down!
At any rate, I appreciate the cartoon – we always think we know better than God how things should be done. A baby indeed.
At one time ‘meat’ meant any solid food as opposed to ‘drink’. However a lot of mincemeat pies have some suet (animal fat) in them.
You can get vegetarian ones made with vegetable ’suet’. I should think most of the shop bought ones are now.